Birthday present for the Snake fromMary Zeppa, Institutional Memory for
the Sacramento Poetry Center
MY FAITHFUL MOTHER TONGUE
—Czeslaw Milosz
Faithful mother tongue,
I have been serving you.
Every night, I used to set before you little bowls of colors
so you could have your birch, your cricket, your finch
as preserved in my memory.
This lasted many years.
You were my native land; I lacked any other.
I believed that you would also be a messenger
between me and some good people
even if they were few, twenty, ten
or not born, as yet.
Now, I confess my doubt.
There are moments when it seems to me I have squandered my life.
For you are a tongue of the debased,
of the unreasonable, hating themselves
even more than they hate other nations,
a tongue of informers,
a tongue of the confused,
ill with their own innocence.
But without you, who am I?
Only a scholar in a distant country,
a success, without fears and humiliations.
Yes, who am I without you?
Just a philosopher, like everyone else.
I understand, this is meant as my education:
the glory of individuality is taken away,
Fortune spreads a red carpet
before the sinner in a morality play
while on the linen backdrop a magic lantern throws
images of human and divine torture.
Faithful mother tongue,
perhaps after all it's I who must try to save you.
So I will continue to set before you little bowls of colors
bright and pure if possible,
for what is needed in misfortune is a little order and beauty.
________________________
Medusa is very happy to report that the Third Annual Birthday Bash and Buffet was a gala affair last night, with incredibly wonderful readings by Ann Menebroker and D.R. Wagner, plus a warm and supportive audience which gave these two poets a terrific send-up and did this community of ours proud. Thanks to everyone who helped, and to those who gifted the Snake, including the irrepressible rattlechapper Mary Zeppa, who dug into her archives and found us the above bumper sticker from Way Back When.
The only thing that didn't go according to plan was that I didn't get the latest issue of VYPER done, so it'll be coming out next week instead of this one. Fooey.
But I encourage you to check out the Rattlechaps Chapbook Series page on the rattlesnakepress.com website! We've started generating separate pages for each rattlechapper/spiralchapper; scroll down through the list of books we've published and click on the names that are in red. That should lead you to a separate page for each of them, including photos, bios, poems, contact info—and more to come, once we get them all up and running. Sweet!
Tonight:
•••Eeek!! Earlier, I posted that B.L. Kennedy would be reading at Luna's tonight. Turns out, that's NEXT week. Tonight (Thursday, 4/12), 8 PM: Poetry Unplugged at Luna's Cafe (1414 16th St., Sac.) features Mary Mackey, Rochelle Ratner, and Corinne Robins, all with new books from Marsh Hawk Press. Info: 916-441-3931 or www.lunascafe.com. Open mic before/after.
Speaking of B.L. Kennedy:
In light of all the hard work SpiralChapper/Rattlechapper B.L. Kennedy has put in recently on our interview projects, the Snake is proud to announce that he has been appointed Interviewer-in-Residence for Rattlesnake Review. Yes, we know he already serves as Reviewer-in-Residence, but he was clearly the best person for the interviewer's job at this point, and I'm sure you'll agree, given the fine interviews which have appeared recently in the Review and now in the new Rattlesnake Interview Series. But heck, we don't want to lose his reviewing skills, either—not to mention the irreplaceable "BLK 418 Buzz". So he's taking on both posts.
Bari and I have done quite a few projects together now—have learned the parameters of each other's craziness—and he has been a great help to me many times, keeping my philosophical focus on track and treating our work with the utmost professionalism and enthusiasm. He "gets" the Snake, and we share an ambitious vision for what might be done in this part of California, poetry-wise. For all of that I am grateful, and welcome him on-board in yet another capacity.
Thanks, B.L.
More places to send your poems:
•••The following poetry journal would like submissions from you as soon as possible, they say: Blackwidows Web of Poetry, J. Margiotta, Editor, 87788 Blek Dr., Veneta, OR 97487. Send the usual 3-5 poems on all kinds of subjects), SASE and brief bio. The website is: http://www.geocities.com/blackwidowswebofpoetry1/BlackWidowsMagazine.index.html or e-mail: sunris2set@aol.com
•••Cleo Griffith writes: We are accepting submissions for Song of the San Joaquin Summer Issue until June 15. Poems should be relevant to the California Central Valley and to the season, if pertinent. Send 3 poems, SASE and brief bio. IF YOU WISH TO SUBMIT BY E-MAIL PLEASE SEND TO: cleor36@yahoo.com (as my "Song" e-mail is not coming through a lot of the time). Any questions, please write or call me @ (209) 543-1776.
________________________
SECRETARIES
—Czeslaw Milosz
I am no more than a secretary of the invisible thing
That is dictated to me and a few others.
Secretaries, mutually unknown, we walk the earth
Without much comprehension. Beginning a phrase in the middle
Or ending it with a comma. And how it all looks when completed
Is not up to us to inquire, we won't read it anyway.
_________________________
NO MORE
—Czeslaw Milosz
I should relate sometime how I changed
My views on poetry, and how it came to be
That I consider myself today one of the many
Merchants and artisans of Old Japan,
Who arranged verses about cherry blossoms,
Chrysanthemums and the full moon.
If only I could describe the courtesans of Venice
As in a loggia they teased a peacock with a twig,
And out of brocade, the pearls of their belt,
Set free heavy breasts and the reddish weal
Where the buttoned dress marked the belly,
As vividly as seen by the skipper of galleons
Who landed that morning with a cargo of gold;
And if I could find for their miserable ones
In a graveyard whose gates are licked by greasy water
A word more enduring than their last-used comb
That in the rot under tombstones, alone, awaits the light,
Then I wouldn't doubt. Out of reluctant matter
What can be gathered? Nothing, beauty at best.
And so, cherry blossoms must suffice for us
And chrysanthemums and the full moon.
_______________________
—Medusa
Medusa encourages poets of all ilk and ages to send their POETRY, PHOTOS and ART, as well as announcements of Northern California poetry events to kathykieth@hotmail.com (or snail ‘em to P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726) for posting on this daily Snake blog. Rights remain with the poets. Previously-published poems are okay for Medusa’s Kitchen, as long as you own the rights. (Please cite publication.)
SnakeWatch: Up-to-the-minute Snake news:
Journals: Rattlesnake Review #13 is available at The Book Collector; next deadline is May 15. The new VYPER #6 (for youth 13-19) will be out the week of April 16; next deadline is Nov. 1. Snakelets #10 (for kids 0-12) is available; next deadline is May 1.
Books/broadsides: April’s release is SnakeRings SpiralChap #7 from D.R. Wagner: Where The Stars Are Kept, and littlesnake broadside #33: Swallowed By This Whale Of Time by Ann Menebroker. Both are now available at The Book Collector. SpiralChaps are $8; broadsides are free. Or contact kathykieth@hotmail.com for ordering information. Coming in May: Playing Favorites by Ron Tranquilla; littlesnake broadside by Julie Valin; Rattlesnake Interview Series #2 by B.L. Kennedy: Malik.
Something new: Rattlesnake Interview Series with B.L. Kennedy is now available (free) at The Book Collector (or contact Kathy Kieth). #1 is Ann Menebroker.
Also: check out the Rattlechaps Chapbook Series page on the rattlesnakepress.com website! We've started generating separate pages for each rattlechapper/spiralchapper; scroll down through the list of books we've published and click on the names that are in red. That should lead you to a separate page for each of them, including photos, bios, poems, contact info—and more to come, once we get them all up and running. Sweet!
